Hermitage Castle

About Hermitage Castle

The Elliots were 'as predatory as any clan on the fronter' and had a good conceit of themselves as well.

‘I've wounded the Queen's lieutenant,
Gar'd troopers an fitmen tae flee.
For ma name its is little Jock Elliot
And wha daur meddle wi me?’
Trad with additions
The was Jock Eliot of the Park who left the Earl of Bothwell for dead and the same who appears in Maitland's Complaynt against the Theivis of Liddisdaail

‘Johne of the Parke Ryps kist and ark’ ie steals everything


Seven miles further along this bare countryside, the grim outline of Hermitage Castle looms up. A recent comment on a TV programme that it 'says Sod Off in stone' is amply justified. This is one place where you can almost feel the evil deeds which have been done here, soaking out of the walls

‘They shot him dead at the Nine-Stone Rig
Beside the Headless Cross,
And they left him lying in his blood,
Upon the moor and moss.'
Trad Barthram's Dirge

A second ballad tells of Lord Soulis, the Lord of Hermitage a powerful wizard who could not be killed by weapon, drowning or hanging. The country people. fed up with his evil deeds, overcame this by wrapping him in a sheet of lead and melting the lot in a large cauldron.